Jul 1 1985
From The Space Library
NASA and the Council of Chief State School Officers announced today the 10 finalists in the NASA Teacher in Space Project. The finalists would travel July 7 to Johnson Space Center for medical examinations and initial spaceflight suitability testing. The NASA Spaceflight Participant Committee would then interview the teachers in Washington, D.C., submitting results of the examinations and interviews to NASA Administrator James Beggs who would select the primary and backup candidate. NASA had tentatively scheduled the teacher for a January 1986 Space Shuttle flight.
Finalists were Kathleen Beres, Kenwood High School, Baltimore, Maryland; Robert Foerster, Cumberland Elementary School, West Lafayette, Indiana; Judith Garcia, Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia; Peggy Lathlaen, Westwood Elementary School, Friendswood, Texas; David Marquart, Boise High School, Boise, Idaho; Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Concord High School, Concord, New Hampshire; Michael Metcalf, Hazen Union School, Hardwick, Vermont; Richard Methia, New Bedford High School, New Bedford, Massachusetts; Barbara Morgan, McCall-Donnelly Elementary School, McCall, Idaho; and Niki Wenger, Vendervender Junior High School, Parkersburg, West Virginia. (NASA Release 85-99)
By voice vote the U.S. Senate approved a FY 86 NASA authorization of $7.6 billion, an increase of $142 million above the 1985 NASA appropriation and the House-approved authorization, the Washington Post reported. The increase would mainly cover the cost of restoring the Reagan Administration's proposed 5% pay cut for federal employees and provide additional funds for booster rockets. The Senate spending ceiling was $234 million below the Administration's request.
The Senate and House authorization bills were substantially different. The Senate approved cuts in specific programs, while the House simply approved an across-the-board freeze for the entire NASA budget. (W Post, July 1/85, A13)
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced that M. Bignier, ESA director of Space Transportation Systems, and Ing. Heise, executive vice president and president of the Space Systems Group of Messerschmidt/Bolkow Blohm (MBB)/Erno, signed a contract for the development of the European Retrievable Carrier, EURECA, a payload carrier intended for use on the U.S. Space Shuttle. MBB/Erno would serve as EURECA prime contractor with support from some 24 European industrial firms. The approximately $95 million contract called for delivery of the EURECA flight unit to NASA by the end of 1987 for launch from the Space Shuttle in March 1988 and recovery, by the Space Shuttle, six months later.
The first EURECA payload, developed by European national institutes and space agencies, would consist primarily of experiments in the microgravity sciences (life and material sciences) and a limited number of experiments in space science and technology. Work on the payload would proceed in parallel with the development of the carrier, and plans called for delivery of all payload elements to MBB/Erno by spring 1987 for integration onboard EURECA before shipment to the U.S.
The EURECA payload carrier incorporated the more attractive features of Spacelab and in addition provided for relatively long duration flights (up to eight months), higher power and mass capability for the payload, and lower costs compared with Spacelab and many conventional satellites because the system occupied only about 2.5 m of the Space Shuttle orbiter cargo bay.
ESA also envisioned EURECAs eventual use in association with the proposed U.S. space station, with the EURECA operating either in a free-flying mode (co-orbiting with the space station or in polar orbit) or as a man-tended, semi permanent payload carrier with modified docking facilities. (ESA release July 1/85)
Rep. Samuel Stratton (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee's procurement subcommittee, said a new bomber force study, done by the Defense Department in response to a U.S. House request, could lead to changes in the planned mix of 100 B-1 B bombers and something over 100 Advanced Technology Bombers (ATBs-Stealth), Defense Daily reported. The new study was intended to reevaluate and update the conclusions of a 1981 study.
Stratton pointed out that major changes in the strategic environment demanded that the U.S. House take a new look at the air-breathing leg of the strategic triad to determine if those requirements had changed. He emphasized that the subcommittee did not have a prejudged position on the bomber mix question and that the group did not want a rehash of positions taken years before when circumstances were significantly different.
When asked by Rep. Beverly Byron (R-Md.) if the study could change the mix of the bomber force, Stratton responded, "I think that is entirely possible. If the study group finds that a different 'mix' is required, they should clearly state the differences and provide justification for those changes. This study could call for more or fewer of either bomber or for a high aggregate number of both . . . but there must be full debate on the proposed bomber force, because obviously a good deal of money would have to be spent if we are going to continue both those lines into the future." (D/D, July 2/85, 9)
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced that the European X-ray Observatory Satellite, EXOSAT, had been in orbit over two years, during which time it had performed nearly 2,000 observations, returning data to an observatory based at the European Space Operations Centre, ESOC, in West Germany.
The EXOSAT telescopes had provided among other findings detailed images of the remnants of dead stars, called supernova, which had consumed their nuclear fuel (hydrogen and helium) and ended their lives in a spectacular explosion. The images enabled astronomers to deduce the amount of energy in the original explosion and the physical conditions in space in the neighborhood of the explosion.
Some astronomers speculated that a supernova might end as neutron stars or black holes, and EXOSAT was helping astronomers study a number of these "exotic" objects in the Milky Way.
Early in 1984 astronomers proposed using EXOSAT to search for very fast rotating neutron stars in X-ray binaries. In mid-July 1985, ESA announced that these observations had led to the discovery of a completely unexpected phenomenon, that of quasi-periodic oscillations that might indicate the presence of fast rotating neutron stars in very old X-ray binary systems. The discovery of the oscillations opened up an entirely new area of investigation in the study of neutron stars that, because of the stars' extreme gravitational conditions, could make it possible to test to their limits some of the fundamental laws of physics. (ESA release July 1/85; ESA release July 19/85)
Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) announced that July 1 marked the center's 25th anniversary. MSFC currently managed a budget of about $2 billion annually and employed some 3,300 people, while thousands more worked with numerous aerospace and other high-tech organizations in the Huntsville, Alabama, area to support the center's projects.
During the 25 years, MSFC had moved beyond its initial role as NASA's developer of launch vehicles and propulsion systems to that of a scientific and engineering organization also responsible for spacecraft and scientific experiments. The center was currently responsible for a number of NASA programs including the Space Shuttle's engines, propellant tank, and booster rockets; the Hubble Space Telescope; Spacelab orbiting research laboratories; the Space Shuttle upper stage systems; and a significant portion of the proposed space station. (MSFC Release 85-31)
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